States seek $2bn from excess crude account

Nigeria’s 36 state governmentshave requested to withdraw $2 billion from the $4.11 billion excess crude account (ECA), Nigeria’s oil savings account.

They said it would help them complete projects and provide security ahead of February polls.

Timothy Odah, the chairman of the states’ commissioners of finance forum, said after the federation accounts allocation committee (FAAC) meeting that a proposal on the withdrawal had already being sent to President Goodluck Jonathan for his approval.

Revenues to be distributed to the country’s three tiers of government in October – federal, state and local – were 593.33 billion naira, down from 603.5 billion naira in September, Jonah Otunla,  accountant general of the federation, said.

Gross revenues rose to 536.69 billion naira in October, up 6.9 percent from September owing to improvements in crude revenues, despite a sharp fall in global oil prices, Otunla also said.

Bashir  Yuguda (pictured), minister of state for finance, said mineral revenue in the period under review increased by N45.29 billion to N420.03 billion compared to N374.74 billion in September. However, the non-mineral component declined by N10.69 billion to about N116.65 billion compared to N127.35 billion the previous month.

Meanwhile, revenue from value added tax (VAT) increased by N2.03 billion to N67.13 billion in October compared to N65.10 billion the previous month.

Yuguda urged the state government to reduce their expenditure in the light of the current economic reality as a result of the declining oil prices and prepare for tough for the tough time ahead.

He said federal government would continue to adopt a scenario based approach in its response to the current fiscal challenges.